We are back with another KFTV Stock Exchange. This time, we evaluate Leon Roses’ tenure as the Knicks’ President of Basketball Operations.
In 2014, I was a teenager when I devoted myself to a team named after pants. I hadn’t seen a single game, knew just one player, and certainly didn’t know what the dire consequences of joining the fandom would have on my mental well-being.
What I did know about the New York Knicks then is that Phil Jackson was the President of Basketball Operations, and they were the second-worst team in the league (just slightly above the Philadelphia 76ers).
I also knew I enjoyed playing as the Knicks in NBA 2K14 versus the Miami Heat, against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Against those insurmountable odds, I may have beaten them once out of the fifty or so times I tried.
Constantly losing in the face of adversity prepared me well for what would come.
This preamble illustrates one thing: I started in the Phil Jackson era, a General Manager that slept through draft workouts and assuaged egos with the zen of Jeffrey Dahmer and Elizabeth Bathory’s lovechild. Compared to Phil Jackson, Leon Rose is basically Red Holzman.
How can we assess Leon Rose’s tenure as General Manager? Let’s start by discussing the man himself and then go into the moves he has made and his general conduct overall. This will give us a better picture of what we can expect going forward.
As a disclaimer, there are many moving parts to the front office. When I reference “Leon Rose,” it is generally more symbolic of all the different minds contributing to building the team.
The Man Himself
According to his website’s biography, Leon Rose is “one of the freshest innovators in the international Salsa scene. His inspirational style generates enthusiasm and commitment—” Wait a second… wrong Leon Rose. Hold on… ah, okay, here we go.
Leon Rose is a New Jersey native, a former college basketball player, and was one of the most powerful sports agents under one of the most influential sports agencies: Creative Artists Agency (“CAA”). While at CAA, Rose represented players such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul. In addition, Rose had a hand in one of the most monumental moves in sports history, that of LeBron going to the Miami Heat to form a legendary super team.
When it comes to influence and connections, there are few people in the world of professional basketball with more than Leon Rose.
After Steve Mills was fired, Rose became president of the Knicks in March 2020, just before the start of the pandemic. Leon Rose came here to do two things: continue to build that foundation and to bring stars to New York.
(Side note: We should credit Steve Mills; the Knicks had a decent foundation set up. They had draft picks, cap space, and players such as Mitchell Robinson, RJ Barrett, and Julius Randle.)
In a letter to season ticket holders, Leon Rose wrote, “Nothing about this is easy, or quick, so I ask for your continued patience. What I promise you in return is that I will be honest and forthright. We will develop a plan that makes sense, both to jumpstart our short-term growth and ensure our long-term success.”
This message is where I realized Leon Rose would be different from past General Managers. Whereas the Knicks always looked for a quick fix, Rose promised to build smart and organic. He wanted to be competitive, but not for a short period. He wanted to be like the Boston Celtics or the Golden State Warriors, teams that, for many years, remained competitive and exciting.
Well, how has he done so far? First, let’s look at the moves he has made.
2020-21: Setting the Foundation
Hiring the right coach
The first significant move Leon Rose made as General Manager was to hire Tom Thibodeau as head coach.
Let me get my rain jacket on before I go any further.
To many, Thibodeau is a despotic tyrant. All team failings are because of him, and all success is despite him. He is a stifler of development, a locker room cancer, and his mentality is more outdated than your grandma’s curtains. His only sustenance is the candy he snatches from children and the tears he drinks from their flushed cheeks.
For me, hiring Tom Thibodeau was a good move. He certainly has his warts, but let’s go through the criticisms that are incessantly thrown his way and see if they hold any weight.
The first complaint: Thibodeau can’t develop players. This is a favorite talking point amongst fans because some of the younger players didn’t get much playing time in Thibs’ first two seasons as head coach. Yet Mitchell Robinson, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes, Miles McBride, and Jericho Sims have flourished beneath Thibodeau.
Thibs emphasizes quality minutes over quantity. If a player makes a mistake, he will take them out so that they can learn. However, if they earn Thibs’ trust, he will integrate them into the rotation more. And as we’ve seen throughout his tenure, Thibodeau knows when to take a player out of the lineup (Austin Rivers, Evan Fournier, and Kemba Walker) to elevate a player (Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, or Miles McBride). But, if your one of Thib’s guys, you’re really one of his guys, and you’re allowed to get away with things that’d have others benched the second they did it.
This was a main criticism in the 2021-22 season. He didn’t hold Julius Randle as accountable as he did his younger players. While this is true—Randle’s behavior last year was inexcusable—a head coach needs to trust his star player. Despite how bad Julius played, Thibodeau trusted Randle to turn it around—or he simply had no one better to rely on.
Another accusation against Thibodeau is that the locker room doesn’t respect him. This allegation is blatantly false. Even my deaf grandma can hear Thibodeau’s hoarse voice as he shouts out play calls, commands, and reprimands from the sideline. He shouts, and the players follow.
If a team isn’t bought in with their coach, there’s no way they make the playoffs as they did in 2021 and 2023. Although, I’m sure there were points where the locker room was dysfunctional, especially during the 2021-22 season.
Getting the right players
After selecting the right coach to steer the ship, Rose did a decent job constructing a roster through the draft and free agency that would go above and beyond what most expected.
For starters, a highly underrated move by Rose was drafting Leandro Bolmaro at pick number 23 and trading down to 25 to select Immanuel Quickley. The genius of this move speaks for itself.
However, at number 8, Rose selected Obi Toppin. At the time, it seemed like a decent pick; Julius Randle stunk up the court the previous year, and now it was time to move on and develop a foundational starting power forward. But as we all know, Obi Toppin has been perpetually stuck behind Randle.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call drafting Toppin a “wasted pick.” Of course, it would’ve been ideal to choose a star in the late lottery, but a solid player such as Toppin is better than drafting an all-around bust. Nevertheless, Obi was a poor selection because the move indicates a disconnect between Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau. On top of that, the handling of Toppin’s career and well-being by both parties has been disgraceful.
In free agency, Leon signed Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, Theo Pinson, Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson, and Austin Rivers.
Burks was a handyman—a Swiss knife that filled multiple roles and was basically Michael Jordan without the known gambling addiction. Noel was a defensive beast, and Payton (despite his cringe-worthy shooting form) played solid defense and was an excellent finisher. Pinson didn’t play much but brought good energy into the locker room. Signing Austin Rivers was a whiff, but they amended that mistake quickly.
Toward the trade deadline, they shipped off Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round pick for Derrick Rose. This trade elevated the team to the fourth seed in the short term. Nowadays, Derrick Rose has slowed down, but he still provides mentorship for the other young guards.
In 2020-21 the Knicks made the playoffs for the first time since 2012-13. The organization was playing with house money even before the playoffs came around.
When the playoffs arrived, Knicks’ faithful were sent into a collective frenzy. After seven years of mediocre teams and a year of lockdowns and social isolation, Madison Square Garden became a madhouse. I could feel the electricity coming through my television screen.
Even though it ended with disappointment at the hands of a man who is still not valid in Dykeman, it was an unforgettable season.
We saw development from the young players and the establishment of a hard-nosed, defensive identity. Plus, there was still a lot of flexibility for the future.
2021-22: Bing Bong Bust
The 2021 “on-season”—as J Boogie says—started with excellence.
First, the Knicks drafted Kai Jones and Keon Johnson at numbers 19 and 21, respectively. Then, they traded these two bench warmers for Quentin Grimes (25th pick) and Miles McBride (36th pick). Grimes is now a prototypical 3&D starter with a lightning first step. McBride is a defensive bulldog. Both players have significant upside and potential to improve.
New York would also select Rokas Jokubaitis with the 34th pick and Jericho Sims at pick 58. Rokas has yet to debut for the Knicks during the regular season, but he has been doing well for FC Barcelona. As for Sims, he catches lobs, plays decent defense, and eats boards. Unfortunately, his game has little creativity, so keep him far away from the dunk contest. But other than that, he’s chilling.
While the draft was a success, the rest of the offseason is where Leon Rose faltered.
At the time, re-signing Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, and Derrick Rose made sense. Those three played above their pay grade the previous season, and Leon banked on them continuing at that level. In addition, the contracts they were given were reasonable and low-risk.
The following acquisitions were signing Evan Fournier and trading for Kemba Walker. With these moves, Rose forsook the defensive philosophy of the team and Thibodeau in favor of two offensive-minded players. On top of that, Walker was not healthy enough to handle the starting point guard role.
Along with Kemba, Derrick, and Nerlens missed most of the season because of injury, and then we were forced to witness Thibodeau utilize Burks as starting point.
Alec Burks is many, many, many things, but he is far from a viable starting point guard, which caused a domino effect. Julius Randle carried the offensive burden without a proper point guard and spun himself silly. With a disgruntled leader, the young players were not talented or experienced enough to keep winning.
Nevertheless, if Derrick and Noel weren’t injured and Burks didn’t play out of position, their stocks would not have collectively decreased. And if that weren’t the case, Leon may have gotten better value out of the 2022 draft day trades he made with the Detroit Pistons.
(By the way, those contracts were supposed to demonstrate to potential free agents that Leon Rose rewarded his players. They also gave a semblance of stability and consistency to an organization that shuffled the deck more often than a casino dealer.)
Midway through the season, they traded Kevin Knox and a protected first-round pick for Cam Reddish. Cam was a perpetual underachiever but had a ton of potential. Yet, for one reason or another, Tom Thibodeau never gave him consistent minutes. Like Evan Fournier, Cam never fit on the team from day one. The trade was an utter disaster, another example of a disconnect between the front office and coaching staff.
The 2021-22 Knicks weren’t good enough to make the play-ins. It was a disappointing and frustrating season and a bitter return to the mediocrity the organization had dwelled in for two entire decades. Some of the fanbase blamed the failure of the entire season on Tom Thibodeau. But it was Leon Rose’s fault because he didn’t get Thibs his type of players.
2022-23: Stars on the Horizon
The 2022 draft was a cardiac affair because the Knicks attempted to trade for Jaden Ivey throughout the night before and after the Detroit Pistons selected him. Yet the Pistons never budged. And in the end, after a neurotic shuffling of picks, Detroit acquiring Jalen Duren, and the Knicks offloaded the burdensome contracts of Alec Burkes, Nerlens Noel, and Kemba Walker, New York cleared enough cap space for… Jalen Brunson?
Really? Leon Rose did all that for Jalen Brunson? Go back and watch the KFTV draft day stream; the disappointment on everyone’s faces is palpable. Reasonably so, there was so much hype to that draft, only for it to end with zero first-round picks and some extra cap space.
And they were planning to give him a nine-figure contract? Sure, he’s a solid player, but is he worth the overpay? No way Jalen Brunson could help the team that much, right?
The Knicks “badly wanted” Jalen Brunson around the 2022 trade deadline after Mark Cuban failed to offer him a contract extension. A trade never materialized between the Knicks and Mavs. Still, New York created enough familial connections that Jalen couldn’t look away from the Knicks—Jalen’s agent being Sam Rose (Leon’s son), New York also added Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father and former client of Leon Rose, to the coaching staff.
Pair that with William Wesley and Julius Randle’s scouting mission during the 2022 playoff series between the Dallas Maverick and Utah Jazz, and it proved that New York wanted Brunson on the team, and they weren’t afraid to make it apparent.
Jalen Brunson is a star. He is legit. His contract is a steal. Nothing more needs to be said.
But beyond the acquisition of Brunson, Leon’s moves have been savvy this season. For example, in negotiations with the Pistons, Leon tried killing two birds with one stone: Acquire a young stud in Ivey while offloading enough money to sign Jalen Brunson. But even though he didn’t hit a grand slam by getting both players, he still hit a homer because Brunson has been excellent.
However, Leon’s best move was the one he didn’t make. And by that, I mean he didn’t trade the farm for Donavan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz. The Jazz imploded in the playoffs and shipped off Gobert for an exorbitant price. Donovan Mitchell, a New York native, was making public appearances all over New York, even at a Brooklyn Cyclones game.
Yet, Leon had to negotiate with the shrewd Danny Ainge. Ainge had just fleeced the Timberwolves in broad daylight, but this bevy of soon-to-be high-value picks wasn’t enough to satiate the gluttonous maw of Ainge.
Leon Rose and Danny Ainge negotiated with intensity. Rose wanted his superstar but didn’t want to mortgage his future on a deal. While Mitchell is a star, he still needs more help to win a championship. Leon Rose did not like the idea of offering more than two unprotected first-round picks. Instead, he believed in the value of his young assets: RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, and Obi Toppin. (I emphasize value because Rose was more than willing to trade the players, but he believed their inclusion justified only two unprotected picks rather than the four Ainge was asking for.)
Rose was willing to center a deal around a bevy of picks or some key young players, but not both. The negotiations quieted until the Knicks announced they had signed RJ Barrett to a contract extension. A couple of hours later, Donovan Mitchell was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The timing of these announcements was not coincidental. By signing RJ Barrett, did Leon signal that he was finished with the trade talks? Or had he tried to call Ainge’s bluff and pressure him into a move? Regardless of what was intended, Leon Rose missed out on his star player. Considering the leaps that Grimes, Quickley, and Barrett took, I think we can all agree that it’s best that the Mitchell trade didn’t go through now.
RJ Barret struggled all season long, making the contract that Leon gave him look slightly suspect. But if his strong play during the post-season is indicative of the future, then perhaps it could be another steal like Jalen Brunson’s contract.
The 2022-23 season started with muted expectations. Sure, there was the assumption New York would improve, maybe make it into the playoffs, and that was all well and good. Even up until the trade deadline, the Knicks were an average team.
However, Leon Rose trading Cam, a lottery protected first-rounder, and role players for Josh Hart was the deal that changed the trajectory of this team. From the moment Josh Hart stepped onto the floor for the Knicks, he elevated the entire team. Hart is a Tom Thibodeau-type player: intense effort, detail-oriented, and a stout defender. Leon and Thibodeau learned from their past mistakes and were in accordance once more. Josh Hart also wanted to be in New York—a sign that Madison Square Garden is finally becoming an attractive destination.
Currently, the Knicks are one of the best teams in the league. They have two All-Star caliber players and a group of talented, ever-growing young players. They blew expectations out of the water by drowning the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. They maybe could have made a Finals run, but either due to a lack of energy or apathy, they succumbed to their habit of laziness in the second round. The hungrier, more motivated Miami Heat ate them alive and broke them. There are no moral victories to be gleaned from this defeat. That said, at least the Knicks put up a fight and didn’t go out like chumps.
There are still many questions for this team, but some of us can agree that the 2022-23 season was a resounding success. Going into the offseason, the Knicks are in an enviable position to make a big splash that can elevate them to bonafide championship contention.
The Rating
Leon Rose’s tenure as a General Manager has been met with frustration and confusion. At times, he seems like a man in over his head and afraid to take risks because his prudent decisions still tend to backfire. However, this conservatism is a welcome contrast to the past managers, who rested on the laurels of a big market and eschewed any semblance of healthy team-building.
That said, now is the time for the actual rating of Leon Rose and his tenure as general manager for the New York Knicks.
Coach
Tom Thibodeau is a good coach for this team. His lunch pail, hard-nosed, defensive mindset fits in perfectly for New York, and he’s established our culture well. Of course, he has shortcomings, but he is willing to step outside his comfort zone. He is a massive part of why the Knicks are as good as they are. However, he isn’t a championship-level coach. Thibs was thoroughly outsmarted by Eric Spoelstra in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals. His lack of on-the-fly adjustments and general stubbornness hurt the team. It seems inevitable that Thibs will be fired, but as a layer of the foundation that Leon is building, Thibs has done an excellent job.
Grade: 92
Contracts
The contracts for Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson are slam dunks for Leon Rose, as they are both worth more than what they signed for. Alec Burkes and Nerlens Noel were good acquisitions at first, but their second contracts, along with Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker, and Evan Fournier, all flopped. Mitchell Robinson has a solid signing, but his injury history and replaceability make this a neutral acquisition. Finally, taking the post-season out of the discussion, RJ Barrett looks like a massive overpay. It’s good Leon has faith in his guy, but if Barret can’t find consistency, his extension can negate Randle and Brunson’s financial value.
Grade: 85
Trades
While Cam Reddish was a horrible misstep, at the very least, he only cost a conditional first-round pick (all respect to my guy Kevin Knox). Meanwhile, Derrick Rose and Josh Hart were both trades that elevated their team when they happened. These two and Leon’s savvy draft day trades reveal that he has a prospector’s eye for getting valuable returns.
Grade: 95
Stability
NBA years are like dog years. The league is unpredictable, but most of the players on the squad now seem like they will be here at least three to five years from now. As stated, Leon has stayed true to the vision of a slow, organic rebuild. That said, has Leon built a squad that is perpetual first or second-round fodder? Or can the players he committed to ascend to championship contention? Right now, the former is more tangible than the latter.
Grade: 92
Drafting
All I hear from take advocates is that we need high draft picks. “Let’s waste an entire season for a 5 percent shot at Wembanyama. That way, I can complain more when we inevitably miss him!” Petty mockery aside, this team would never lose on purpose—they don’t need to. Rose has gotten extraordinary value for late first-round and second-round picks. In fact, his only lottery selection, Obi Toppin, was his biggest miss: that and the fact he didn’t even draft anyone for the 2022 draft. Add all that to the fact that the Knicks got whooped by a team of primarily undrafted players and late first-round picks.
Grade: 95
Final Grade: A- (92)
Stay tuned to KnicksFanTV.com for the latest Knicks news, rumors, and recaps throughout the NBA season. And in case you missed it, check out CP The Fanchise discussing Julius Randle’s market with ESPN’s NBA Insider, Bobby Marks.
